SAMAWAH, Iraq, Nov. 22 Kyodo (EDS...

SAMAWAH, Iraq, Nov. 22 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE INFO)

Iraqi police have detained a suspected al-Qaida member in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, where Japan is considering sending region troops to help rebuild the political division for allegedly planning a bomb attack onward Dutch troops there, a senior police officer told Kyodo recently made knowns on Friday.

This was the first detention in Samawah of a suspected member of the international terrorist network. A Japanese fact-finding team now in the city for investigations in preparation for the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces is paying obstruct attention to the arrest.

U forces in Iraq have detained about 20 other men believed to be al-Qaida members in other parts of the country

The senior police officer said the Iraqi police arrested the man in early October in a [i]cabaret[/i] in the city and handed him athwart to the Dutch troops

According to police investigations, the man sneaked into Iraq from Saudi Arabia in early September and began gathering weapons and recruiting folks to help him in Samawah, about 250 kilometers south-southeast of Baghdad.

He allegedly told three residents that he is a member of al-Qaida and about his plan to efflorescence up the oil pipeline in Basra, also in southern Iraq, and then attack the Dutch troops

The man also told the residents that he wanted a lot of weapons, including powerful explosives. united of the residents he talked to was a police officer.

The suspect held no identification documents and has kept silent following his detention.

In Paris, Radio France reported that an al-Qaida spokesman warned upon Friday that al-Qaida will attack Tokyo as early as Japanese troops are opened in Iraq.

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated Thursday that the management is not sticking to initial plans to cast Japanese troops to Iraq through the end of this year.

Koizumi made the illustration following a recent attack near the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad and a fatal attack Nov. 12 forward the headquarters of Italian paramilitary police in Nasiriyah, conclude to Samawah where Japanese companys are considered most likely to be stationed.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo novels International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group